“Johnny B” by The Hooters

"Johnny B" came off One Way Home, the Hooters' third album, and Columbia put it out as a single in 1987. Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman wrote it with Rick Chertoff, who also produced it, and it's a story song dressed up in a lot of colors: Cash Box heard textures that serve the narrative, stretching from quaint Old World flavor to gritty, guitar-driven rock.

America only let it climb to 61 on the Billboard Hot 100, but Germany took it to heart, holding it at number seven for two weeks. The video had pedigree, too: David Fincher directed it, with Propaganda Films producing.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.